Local RP Artist Has Exhibit At Las Malamut Art Gallery

Published: June 3, 2014 @ 6:00 AM EDT

A solo show by Roselle Park artist and poet Leona M. Seufert of her digital prints titled “Reflections – From Real To Surreal” is on exhibit between now and July 31, 2014 at The Les Malamut Art Gallery located at 1980 Morris Avenue in Union, New Jersey. A reception to meet the artist will be held from 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. on Tuesday, June 10th.

The exhibit of 30 images combines two of her series, one which was on display at the Casano Community Center Art Gallery in 2013 of unaltered photographed reflections and new images that use those photographs as a jumping off point for creative manipulation. The 15 images from the “Reflections – Is It Or Isn’t It Real” series captured exactly what her camera’s lens saw even though they looked like they had been Photoshopped or altered.

“Inspired by this serendipity, I then started to not only to look for these happenings, but to actually create them using only the camera’s viewfinder,” Ms. Seuffert stated, “Gallery exhibits netted a wide range of images as the reflective glass and lights on the hung artwork played all kinds of tricks depending upon the viewing angle. Many of these photographs were ‘staged’ compositions resulting in spectacular eerie effects.”

For the exhibit at the Les Malamut Art Gallery, Ms. Seuffert let those 15 unmanipulated images inspire her creativity. Some were altered using Photoshop effects, others became part of an old-fashioned paper collage or of a digital collage, and in another she used markers to create new images on top of the inkjet printout. She commented, “I had two goals as I worked on this series: have fun, and try to relate the second image to the first. Some make a statement on the original, others take it and distort it so that it becomes an abstraction, while others were created to elicit a laugh.”

Known for her digital photomontages, she has exhibited her artwork in numerous group and solo shows in galleries and museums in the NYC Metropolitan area and upstate New York. Ms. Seufert has recently had a solo exhibit at the Pearl Street Gallery in Elizabeth New Jersey. One of her works was in the New Jersey Arts Annual juried show at the New Jersey State Museum in Trenton and she has exhibited at the Hoboken Historical Museum, the Visual Arts Center of NJ in Summit, and the Kenny Art Gallery in New York City. She also produces a line of jewelry called “Digital Gems”.

Ms. Seufert graduated from New York City’s prestigious high school for art, The High School of Art & Design and holds a BA in Theatre Arts from the State University College of Arts and Science.

Leona has her studio in Roselle Park and her works can be viewed at her online gallery (link).